


The Man in the Mirror

by TheDarkestDandelion



Series: The Daemon, the Soldier and a Stolen Bio-Weapon AU [34]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Baby Prompto Argentum, Crying, Flashbacks, Fluff, Good Ardyn Izunia, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Parent Ardyn Izunia, Parent Cor Leonis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prompto Argentum Needs a Hug, Protective Ardyn Izunia, Protective Cor Leonis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-27 13:54:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20047126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestDandelion/pseuds/TheDarkestDandelion
Summary: Prompto is terrified of mirrors. And Cor and Ardyn can't figure out why.





	1. It's Okay. I'm Here.

**Author's Note:**

> The main body of the fic takes place after 'Prompto, Get Help' but the first part takes place beforehand. I think I have made it clear enough in the story. 
> 
> Anyway please enjoy. :)

Prompto is terrified of mirrors. And Cor and Ardyn can’t figure out why.

He had always been scared of them, but Cor didn’t notice this until after he and Ardyn had adopted him. It had been a week since his adoption, and after work, Cor went out and brought Prompto a few more things to help him settle better. It was mainly clothes, nappies, blankets and a few toys that Cor brought. Cor didn’t really want to spoil Prom that much, but any hopes of that happening was going to be foiled by Ardyn. He took spoiling Noctis, and Regis when he was younger, to a whole other level. Considering Prompto was the immortal daemon’s son, Prom was definitely going to want for nothing. Cor really didn’t want to raise a spoiled brat, he just hoped Ardyn was going to tone down the level of gifts and attention Prom got as the years went along.

When he got into the house he was greeted to Ardyn and Prompto playing hide and seek. Cor just rolled his eyes when he saw Ardyn sitting under the table covering his face pretending Prom couldn’t see him. And when Prom did find Ardyn, Ardyn pretended to gobble him up, causing little Prom to squeal in a burst of laughter. Once he was free from Ardyn’s grip he ran over to Cor and gestured for his dad to pick him up so he could give him a hug.

Once Cor had picked him up Prom did not want to leave Cor’s side. He refused to let go of him and started to tear up every time Cor went to put him down. Which led to Cor eating his dinner with Prom in his lap making a mess of the pair of them.

Since the boy’s top was now covered in mash and gravy, Cor thought it was a good time for Prompto to try on his new clothes.

They all went upstairs and Ardyn happily sorted through the clothes until he found one that he knew would look perfect on his little sunbeam. It was a green polo shirt with a dinosaur on it and it matched Prom’s eyes perfectly.

After Prompto was clean and changed Ardyn gave him a massive smile. “Oh Sunbeam, you look so smart! I never knew daddy had such a good taste in fashion, you look absolutely adorable!”

Prompto clapped his hands and looked down at the polo shirt Dyn, or rather dada as he wanted to be called, had put on him. He gave Ardyn the same smile back and continued to clap to give his approval of the choice of clothes.

“Hey! I have a better sense in fashion then you do.” Cor huffed looking at the huge trench coat Ardyn insisted on wearing all the time and the many scarfs he refused to take off.

“I beg to differ. Now, would my darling boy like to see for himself how smart he looks in the mirror?” Ardyn asked and held out his hands. Prom smiled and lifted his arms up for Ardyn to pick him up. “Come on Sunbeam.”

Ardyn put Prom over his shoulder and walked over to the mirror that was on the other side of his and Cor’s bedroom.

“I know Prom, Dada is a little over the top.” Cor laughed when he saw Prom’s confused face. The kid didn’t know what a mirror was yet, his son probably had no idea what Ardyn was on about. 

Ardyn turned Prom around so that he was facing the mirror and spoke with nothing but joy and pride to his son. “Don’t listen to daddy. Anyway, here you are my…”

“AHHHGGGG!!!”

As soon as Prom’s eyes made contact with the mirror he started to ball his eyes out. He screamed at the top of his lungs and desperately tried to turn away from his reflection. Ardyn immediately began bouncing him up and down, rubbing his back and tried his hardest to sooth Prom’s cries. He was just shocked by the boy’s reaction. He had never seen anyone react as badly to a mirror as Prompto just had. Despite Prom looking away from the mirror, he hadn’t stopped crying. 

“Prompto. Prom, it’s alright.” Ardyn said in a comforting voice still bouncing him in his arms, and he was still very confused as to what was going on.

Prompto’s breathing started to become erratic and he kept shaking his head, eyes burning with tears of fear until he spotted Cor who was walking over to him at a very fast pace. Prom’s fear lessened ever so slightly and he reached out and cried for Cor to take him. 

“COR! COR!”

Ardyn promptly handed him over to Cor. Cor held Prompto close and walked out of the room as far away from the mirror as he could get and whispered words of comfort to his son. “It’s alright. It’s alright you’re okay. Everything is okay.”

After 30 minutes of uncontrollable crying, Prompto finally calm down and refused to let go of Cor. Ardyn and Cor could tell that Prom was absolutely terrified but they couldn’t understand why. Prom remained in Cor’s arms until he fell asleep, giving both Cor and Ardyn time to discuss what had happened. No matter the circumstances that was not normal behaviour for a child to have. They concluded it must be something to do with whatever had taken place in Niflheim and in the morning they would ask Prom why he was so scared of the mirror. The toddler didn’t tell them. When Ardyn asked, Prom went quiet and snuggled up to Ardyn’s chest and remained quiet for an hour or so. When Cor got back from work and asked him, Prompto started to cry and became very clingy. Like the previous night, he clung on to the Marshal, refusing to let go, until he fell asleep.

* * *

Every time Prom looked into a mirror he would freak out and cry his heart out until he was safely in Cor’s arms. He didn’t want Ardyn. He didn’t want anyone. Prompto only ever wanted Cor when he got like this. Luckily, every time an incident like this had occurred Cor was in Prom’s sights and was able to calm the little boy down within half an hour.

But a few days after Prompto’s third birthday, Cor was at work when Prom looked in the mirror. 

Ardyn, deciding he could tolerate his brother today, asked Somnus to come over so he could see Prom and keep him company until Cor got back. Somnus happily went over and the brothers didn’t argue. Prom was more then happy to see his uncle Som and demanded that the Founder King give him a piggyback ride around the house. Ardyn found it amusing and before Somnus could protest, Ardyn had placed Prom on his back.

Somnus wandered around the house with blonde child on his back and Ardyn following close behind them. When they came to the upstairs hallway, Ardyn remembered at the current height Prom was on Somnus’s back, he would be able to see the mirror. 

In a panic, Ardyn called out to his brother who didn’t know what would happen if Prom took a glance at his reflection. “Wait! Somnus stop!”

“What?” Somnus halted and turned around.

Too late.

“WAAHHHHGGG! DADDY! DADDY!” Prompto screamed directly in Somnus’s ear and nearly fell off due to all the kicking and screaming he was doing. Lucky for Prom, Somnus had a good hold on him and prevented the boy from hitting the ground.

Ardyn rushed over and got Prompto off of Somnus and held him close, trying to sooth his painful heart-breaking cries as Prom called out for Cor. Ardyn removed himself from the hallway and walked down the stairs rubbing Prom’s back and doing everything he could to get him to calm down.

“It’s alright Sunbeam. You’re safe, everything is alright.” Ardyn cooed walking into the living room, picking up Prom’s Chocobo doll to see if the toy would provide his son with any comfort.

It didn’t. Prom smacked it out of Ardyn’s hand and continued to cry.

“DADDY! I WANT DADDY!”

“Daddy isn’t here right now. Prom you’re going to have to settle for dada.”

“DADDY!” Prompto continued to cry.

Somnus decided to be useful and went to the kitchen to get Prom something to drink, but when he returned an offered it to his nephew, Prom did the exact same thing he had done to the toy and his cries only got louder.

_~20 minutes later~_

“Where’s Cor!” Somnus asked over the endless cries, covering his ears.

“At work. Come on sunbeam, please stop crying. You are safe, nothing bad is going to happen.” Ardyn said changing the direction he had been rocking Prom to see if that helped. Prompto didn’t listen. In fact, his cries got louder and he started to shake his head violently.

“DADDY! DADDY! I WANT DADDY!”

“I know you want daddy. I want daddy too.” Ardyn whined nearly on the verge of tears himself. Why couldn’t he just stop crying? Prom was going to make himself sick if he continued. “Come on, please stop crying.”

_~30 minutes later~_

“How much longer can he possibly cry for?” Somnus complained, starting to get a huge headache from his nephews crying.

“Until Cor comes back.” Ardyn breathed, attempting to shove a dummy in Prom’s mouth to see if that would help. Prom ended up spitting it out and continued to call out for Cor.

_~30 minutes later~_

“DADDY!!!!!”

Cor went straight into the living room to find Ardyn bouncing Prom up and down, and Somnus sitting in the corner burying his head in his hands to try and block out the sound. Cor got Ardyn’s attention, and the Accursed happily handed Prom over to him. Prompto clung on to Cor like a scared lamb and sniffed into his chest wiping his eyes on his shirt.

“What the hell happened?” Cor asked, in the softest voice he could produce, as he hugged Prompto tightly.

“He looked into the mirror.” Ardyn explained, relieved that Prom was no longer straining his lungs.

“Okay, come with me, Prom. It’s alright, I’ve got you. Nothing bad is going to happen.” Cor said taking Prompto to his bedroom, so they were someplace quiet, and Cor could get Prom settled.

After Cor had left the room Somnus stood up and apologised for causing all this distress.

“For once I am not going to blame you.” Ardyn sighed sitting down, hoping that he would never find himself in that situation ever again.

“Why did he start crying like that, and refused to stop? He has got some lungs on him.”

Ardyn shook his head. “I don’t know. He has always been like it, and neither of us understand why. And for some reason, only Cor can calm him down.”

“Ardyn, that’s not normal behaviour.”

“I know that.”

* * *

A couple of months after Prom’s fourth birthday, Prom had yet another panic attack after looking into the mirror and all he wanted was Cor.

Cor and Ardyn simply did not know what to do. So they decided that they would ask Regis and Clarus, as both of them were parents, for help. When they did, they were also at a loss.

“He’s fine with pictures, after we explained to him that there was nothing to worry about. He just hates mirrors.” Cor finished explaining.

That was the odd thing. Prompto was fine with looking at photos of himself. He enjoyed doing that. To start off with he cried, but Cor explained it was only him and there was nothing to be afraid of. But when he attempted the same method with the mirror’s Prompto only got more upset. There was nothing that could have caused it to Cor’s knowledge. Nothing that either he or Ardyn had done to enforce his behaviour anyway.

That knowledge didn’t stop Clarus from asking Ardyn if he had anything to do with it. “Ardyn, you didn’t make a daemon jump out of a mirror, did you?”

“No. I would never do that to my son.” Ardyn said offended that Clarus would even ask that.

“Well, you made me believe for three years of my life that all spiders were daemons.” Regis grumbled, feeling a little embarrassed he believed his uncle for so long.

“That was just funny.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“There is no reason why he would be scared of them. And yet he is terrified of looking into them, always has been.” Cor said getting mildly pissed off they had shifted topics.

“Have you tried asking him?” Clarus suggested.

“Yes. We asked him the first time it happened.”

“Maybe you should try again. I had to ask Gladio, for three years straight, before he told me why he was scared of the cupboard under the stairs. Perhaps now Prom is ready to share.”

Cor and Ardyn knew this was going to be stressful for their son. To make Prom feel comfortable, they put on his favourite cartoon, made him his favourite dinner and gave him a bowl of ice cream afterwards. The pair sat down either side of him and waited until the adverts had come on before asking. Prompto was very similar to Ardyn when he was concentrating. There was no point talking to him until he had finished whatever he was doing because he simply wouldn’t listen.

Because Cor was the only person who could calm Prom down, he brought the subject up.

“Prom, we need to talk to you about the mirror.”

“Okay.” Prom replied quietly, hugging his Chocobo doll a little closer to his chest.

“We know you don’t like them, but can you please tell dada and I why you don’t.”

“We only want to know, so we can help you, sunbeam.” Ardyn smiled, giving Prom a small kiss on top of his head.

Prompto was silent for a moment. Which caused Cor’s and Ardyn’s concern to grow more. Before, when they asked, Prom would either cry or run away and play with his toys to distract himself from those thoughts. But when he looked at his parents, he saw the worry on their faces and he didn’t like seeing them like that. Even though he was scared Prom nodded to himself and finally broke the silence as to why he was terrified. 

“Bad man.”

“Bad man? Prom, what do you mean by that?” Cor questioned not understanding what Prom meant. 

“He’s in the mirror.”


	2. Ardyn, No!

Ardyn drummed his fingers on the kitchen side. Three days ago Prom had told them what he was scared of, and every day since then Ardyn had tried to make sense of it all. Cor had been to, but he was busy with work meaning he couldn’t put all his time and effort into this. But today, with the help of Clarus, Ardyn had come to the realisation who the ‘bad man’ was and he was furious. It would only take a snap of his fingers to find that man and make him suffer for hurting his son. He didn’t want to control himself, and he fully intended on going to Niflheim and sorting this out himself. But out of respect for Cor, he decided to wait and tell his husband what he now knew.

When he heard Cor coming the downstairs after getting out of the shower, Ardyn got straight into the conversation. 

“It’s his reflection he is scared off.”

Cor paused and closed the kitchen door behind him in case, for whatever reason, Prom had woken up. “Probably, but it doesn’t explain who the ‘bad man’ is.”

“Yes, it does. Because I think the ‘bad man’ is Verstael Besithia. The person who owns the lab that you recused Prom from.” Ardyn stated handing Cor a cup of coffee and returned to tapping his fingers along the side.

“That doesn’t explain why he is scared of his own reflection.”

“It does. Clarus found this for me.” Ardyn flicked his hand and in a bright flash of pink a file came into Cor’s sight. Ardyn easily caught the file and handed it over and waited to see Cor’s reaction when he opened it.

Cor put his coffee to one side and opened the file up, and when he did his face dropped. The file was on the mad scientist Verstael Besithia and right at the front was a picture of the man when he was an infant. Cor had to blink a few times to know that he wasn’t seeing things. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Besithia looked identical to Prom. Cor quickly picked the picture up and turned it around to check the date. What the fuck was going on? That picture was taken way over 30 years ago. Cor quickly skimmed through the file and saw many newspaper articles on the man. Most of them claiming him mad, others from Niflheim praising him on getting the old Solheim technology to work. The only article that Cor was really interested in was the one that sent his brain into turmoil with rage. The article was claiming Besithia as mad, no surprise there, but it talked about his supposed breakthrough with cloning…

Cor looked up at Ardyn. 

Ardyn held a firm expression on his face and Cor could tell he was about to blow up. Cor didn’t blame Ardyn he felt the same way.

The Royal shook his head, and he didn’t even bother hiding the bitterness in his voice. “It appears Prom’s existence is a little more terrifying than we first thought.”

“He’s been fucking cloning himself!” Cor said that a little louder then he intended to.

If Prom was that disgrace of a man’s clone, there was no telling how many more times he had done it and been successful. The thought made Cor want to be sick. He had thankfully, taken Prom out of there, but how many more were trapped in those labs? How many more could he have saved if he went further into the labs…

“Shh! You’ll wake him up.” Ardyn placed a finger to his lips taking a glance towards the ceiling.

Cor throw the file on the floor and took in a sharp breath. “This is sick completely sick! What fucking madness is Niflheim brewing!”

“My darling, I wish I knew. But unfortunately, Somnus and I aren’t really allowed to get involved in international affairs, that is why I didn’t notice the similarities between Prom and Mr Besithia before.”

“No wonder Prom’s terrified of his reflection. He just sees him….” That made the Marshal’s gut churn. His son must be fucking traumatised and he still didn’t have a clue what horrors Prom had witnessed in his little life. He couldn’t believe that the Emperor of Niflheim would allow someone that monstrous to carry on working for him. By Prompto’s reaction alone, it was clear that the scientist was not someone to be trifled with. Cor looked at Ardyn again and suddenly realised he had to now calm himself down, so he could help Ardyn keep his cool. Ardyn had a scowl on his face. A similar one to when he was about to murder Somnus because his brother had said something highly offensive towards him. Cor took in a deep breath and clicked his fingers so he knew Ardyn was paying attention. “What are you thinking?”

“That I want to skin a Niff.” Ardyn growled darkly.

“As much as I want to do that too, we need to remain calm. We can’t change what has been done but we can help Prom.”

“What do you suggest, that we put him through therapy? He’s only 4.”

“If it helps him and makes him better then yes.”

* * *

The next day, Cor took the afternoon off and did a lot of research into finding the best person to help Prompto. He didn’t care for the cost and Ardyn said he would happily pay for it. It took a while until he found someone Cor considered to be well educated and experienced enough to help. A child psychologist called: Dr Mars. When Cor gave Ardyn the Doctor’s name, Ardyn did his own digging. He didn’t find anything bad on the man and because he was worried about Prom he agreed. Cor was going to ring Dr Mars’s office and try to book an appointment as soon as possible but Ardyn told him he would do it instead. He was the King’s uncle after all, which meant he would be able to get Prom higher up the list so he could be seen quicker.

Within a week Prompto had an appointment and all three of them went to see the doctor.

The first session was just an evaluation and a chance for Prom, Cor and Ardyn to meet Dr Mars. Ardyn didn’t really like him, but he didn’t really like anyone, whereas Cor was more than happy for Prompto to see him again. Dr Mars treated Prom with respect and when he asked him questions he tried to make Prom feel as comfortable as possible. The second session was much the same. It was just to ensure that Prom felt safe and neither Cor or Ardyn left him alone for a second. When the third session came around, Prompto started to reveal a little bit more. Saying that the ‘bad man’ was always cross, he never smiled, he would say horrible things to everyone, and he used to make Prompto cry on purpose. Prom started to get panicky and clung on to Cor, trying desperately to feel safe. 

Dr Mars worked with Cor and Ardyn and came up with a treatment plan. Which consisted of, encouraging Prompto to talk about his fear, comforting him when he had a panic attack, explain to him what he was seeing when he looked into the mirror and start exposure therapy. Which was exposing Prompto to mirror’s gradually and get him to understand that there was nothing to be afraid of. To start with, that therapy would only be done within the comfort of Dr Mars’s practice room. That way Dr Mars could monitor Prom’s progress and be able to see the full extent of his phobia. There was no doubt Prompto was suffering from severe trauma and over time he would be able to come to term with it. He warned Cor and Ardyn that there was not going to be an overnight recovery, for this could take years. And it wouldn’t surprise him if years down the line Prompto was diagnosed with a mental illness. But at least they could make a start at helping him. 

As time went on and Prom continued with the therapy, he started to scream less when he saw his reflection. He still hung on to Cor for dear life but at least they were getting somewhere. That was something Dr Mars wanted to get away from. He wanted Prompto to also see Ardyn as a form of protection and comfort when he looked into the mirror as well. But that was also going to take time.

Not long after that, Dr Mars gave them permission to expose Prom to mirrors at home. Cor wasn’t really sure if he should but he wanted Prom to get better. One night, when Ardyn went to the Citadel to play chess with Somnus and see Noctis and Regis, Cor decided to talk to Prompto about the bad man. He hadn’t really spoken much about him in his sessions with Dr Mars and the Marshal wondered if that disgusting excuse of man had done anything else. He knew for a fact his son’s answers were going to make him want to throw up and kill Besithia, but Cor had to know so he could help Prom. 

“Prom… you know you said the ‘bad man’ is in the mirror? Well dada and I can’t see him.” Cor explained again, sitting on the floor next to his son. Prom had been explained this many times before, but he never replied to it. But tonight was different. Prompto seemed more relaxed to talk about the mirrors.

“He’s only there when I look.”

“Mate, listen to me. I told you before what photo’s were. The mirror is much the same apart from it copies your actions. Remember what Dr Mars said, the only person in the mirror is you.”

Prompto buried his face into his Chocobo doll and whispered. “I don’t want to be like them.”

“Them?”

“Others like me… I don’t want to be like them I want to stay here with you and dada.”

“That’s not changing, you are staying here with us. I need you to understand that the mirror can’t cause you any harm.” Cor was met with silence again. Prom didn’t look distressed, he looked tired. That was when Cor stood up and held out his hand for Prom to take. “Come with me.”

Prompto clung onto Cor’s hand and followed him into his dads bedroom. Cor picked Prom up and placed him on his bed, before removing the mirror from the wall, placing it on the desk. He positioned the mirror so that Prompto couldn’t see his reflection, but he could see inside the mirror. He hadn’t cried yet, which was definitely a good thing. 

“Right look at what I am doing and then look at the mirror.” Cor looked into the mirror and waved. “See, it is only me.”

“But I look like the bad man. He scared me daddy.” Prompto said in a small voice, now hugging one of his dads pillows.

“Yeah. How did he scare you?” Cor asked sitting down on the bed next to Prom.

“Long pointy things here.” Prompto replied pointing to his arm, right next to the barcode that was concealed with a wrist band. “He used to shout and take the others away if they were broken. He called me broken and he was going to take me away.”

Cor knew he was going to be sick later. What twisted mother fucker would ever call a child broken? He had no idea what happened to the so called ‘broken’ cl- children, and Cor didn’t want to find out either. If he did find out, Cor was going to allow Ardyn to butcher that man. Instead of letting his anger be known to Prom, Cor gave him a soft smile. “You are not broken Prompto. You don’t need to be scared anymore, you will never see that man again, I promise you that.”

“I love you daddy.” Prompto returned the smile giving Cor a hug.

“I love you too.”

* * *

Something wasn’t right with Ardyn and when Cor found out from Regis that Somnus had gone over to his to babysit, Cor rushed home as quick as he could. Ardyn’s anger and hatred for Besithia grew when Cor told him what Prom had said, and Ardyn had claimed that he was going to Niflheim to destroy that man for what he did to their son. Luckily, on that night Cor managed to calm him down enough to make him see sense. But Ardyn had purposely been avoiding him all day and there was no doubt in his mind, Ardyn asking Somnus to babysit was linked to the want to end Besithia’s life. 

“Where’s Ardyn?” Cor asked, finding Somnus sitting on the floor pushing the cars around that Prompto had given him to look after while the boy attempted to set up his racing car track.

“You should know. Ardyn asked me to babysit because you and him are going out tonight.”

“SHIT!” Cor shouted and mentally kicked himself when he remembered Prom was in the room. He quickly informed Somnus that he had no idea that was taking place and asked if he would watch over Prom while he went into the garden to call Ardyn. He called Ardyn and on the third ring his husband picked up. Cor didn’t have time to say hello, he shouted down the phone and demanded that Ardyn explain himself. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!”

_“Nothing.” _Ardyn replied in a quieter tone than usual.

“Where are you then?”

It took Ardyn a few seconds to respond and when he spoke he sounded like a child who had been caught with their hand stuck in a cookie jar.

_“…Nowhere.” _

Cor knew that Ardyn had gone to Niflheim. This was not good. Ardyn would be fine, but for the rest of the people who lived there, there would be nothing but chaos if Ardyn got his hands on that scientist. Cor was not about to let that happen. And he knew if he politely asked Ardyn to come back he would, but after he finished what he had set out to do. For Prom that couldn’t happen. Cor gritted his teeth together and said something he knew would get Ardyn back in front of him within a second.

“Ardyn Leonis if you do not get your arse back home in the next five seconds I am filing for a divorce!”

“That is a bit of an overreaction.” Ardyn muttered, appearing in front of Cor with his arms crossed.

“I don’t care. What the fuck did you think you were doing?”

“I told you I wanted to skin a Niff.” Ardyn shrugged his shoulders, not bothered at all that Cor was ‘slightly’ pissed off by his response.

“You better not have done.”

“I didn’t get a chance too.”

Cor rubbed his eyes in relief. That was one less thing to worry about. He understood how angry and upset Ardyn was, he was feeling the exact same emotions. But they couldn’t go about it like this. Once the war was over, Cor didn’t have a problem with letting Ardyn lose on that man. Nor would Regis, as Cor had told him what had happened, but until then they both had to remain calm and follow the rules, no matter how difficult it was. “I know you are angry so am I. But if you go to Niflheim you are going to cause more problems for Lucis.”

“They wouldn’t have known it was me.” Ardyn moaned rolling his eyes.

“Really? Okay, I was the one that stole Prom. I married you. They probably know that we adopted him as well, so yes Ardyn, it wouldn’t be hard to figure out it was you. Don’t say you can just disguise yourself either, because everyone knows you can do that too.”

Ardyn remained silent for a moment with venom coating his eyes. He then thought about Cor’s words and his expression softened. Ardyn let out a sigh and moved closer to Cor and held on to his hand. “Okay, I will admit it wasn’t the cleverest idea I have ever come up with. I just love you and Prom so much, I can’t imagine a life without either of you anymore and if I can do something to make this better I will.”

“We love you too. But hating that man is not going to help our son. Killing him will only make things worse. Unfortunately, we have to let him get away with whatever he is doing. I feel sick saying that but there isn’t a lot else we can do.”

* * *

Today was going to be a big step for Prompto. He was going to look into the mirror without Cor in the same room as him. Over the last few months, Prom was slowly getting used to looking at his reflection. He was still terrified, but he had his daddy with him, so he knew he could be brave enough to stare into the mirror for a few seconds. Like always, nothing hurt him. He still felt like crying and got panicky because he saw the bad man. However, as time progressed he was slowly beginning to realise that it wasn’t the bad man, and it was only him.

Instead of having his daddy with him, dada was going to be present. 

“Alright, Prom. Remember what Doctor Mars said. This is only you. It isn’t anyone else.” Ardyn smiled ruffling Prom’s hair. 

Prompto nodded and looked up at Ardyn. “Okay. Dada? Can you hold my hand?”

“Of course, I can, Sunbeam.” Ardyn happily took Prom’s hand in his own and placed the other on a sheet that was covering the mirror that was in front of the pair. “I’m going to take the blanket off the mirror now. Don’t worry I am here and I am not going to let go of your hand.”

Ardyn waited a couple of seconds and looked down at Prompto. Ardyn felt Prom’s grip get tighter, prompting Ardyn to give his hand a light squeeze back. Ardyn quickly tugged the sheet off and let it fall to the ground. And because Cor wasn’t in the same room, he was only downstairs, Ardyn thought there was going to be a crying fit. But none came. Prom stared into the mirror. He looked scared but he wasn’t crying. 

“It’s alright Prom. See nothing to worry about. Are you okay?” Ardyn asked crouching down so that Prom could see his face better. 

“I am still scared.” Prom said lowly, gripping on to his dada’s hand tighter.

Ardyn shuffled himself in between Prom and the mirror and smiled at his son with pride. “That’s okay. Look we don’t have to look at the mirror again today. Shall we go and see Daddy and tell him how brave you have been?”

Prompto nodded, wrapping his arms around Ardyn.

* * *

It would take a while but eventually, Prompto would be able to look into mirrors without being scared to the core. He was able to tolerate looking into them and that seeing his reflection was going to be a part of his daily life. Prompto would always have a fear of looking into the mirror. At the back of his mind, he thought that the man was going to come back for him. But he had his dads and he knew that they would never let anything bad happen to him. Because they were family and he shouldn’t be letting a mad man ruin that for him.

He was so thankful his daddy recused him. He was so thankful his dada and daddy loved him. He was going to be okay.


End file.
